"Haah! Haah!"
Even Souya, now the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, couldn't help panting after unleashing his strongest attack yet.
The eight-hundred-meter-tall, three-headed, six-armed statue of refined gold had become like a deflating balloon.
Its once-powerful body, every muscle bulging with strength, had gone "soft," caving in on itself as if all its vitality had drained away, leaving behind only an empty shell.
Before long, the statue began to "melt" from top to bottom. A short while later, a pool of dark golden liquid lay on the ground, its color dull and muddy rather than bright and lustrous.
Now, a deep hole several dozen meters across had appeared directly in front of Souya.
A regular person standing beside the hole would probably tremble at the knees after a single glance. It was so dark and unfathomably deep, its walls so smooth, and not a single glimmer of light showed within. It looked like a mysterious passage leading to another world beneath the earth.
Whoosh~
A chilly, eerie wind blew out of the hole, seemingly carrying the faint wails of evil spirits.
Souya's eyebrows lifted slightly at the sight. "That guy..."
"Sure enough, he's not quite 'dead' yet..."
Whoosh!
A blue flame of light suddenly appeared at the mouth of the hole.
The flame twisted like a worm before finally gathering into the form of the Sage of Six Paths.
But the Sage of Six Paths looked wretched. He could only conjure his upper body, and even that "soul shadow" had grown so faint that a breeze might scatter it.
"Cough..."
"Young man..."
"I admit that you're powerful..."
"But..."
After reappearing, the Sage of Six Paths seemed to have changed his tune and put on a "benevolent" face, as if everything that had happened had merely been a "test" for Souya.
Whoosh!
At that